


teach me how to dance

by TheWeatherOutside



Series: Take Us Home [3]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Alternate Universe - Adopted, Dancing Lessons, Family Fluff, Gen, Light Angst, as written by someone who's never taught it, in the form of mentions of lucille
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:21:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27062587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWeatherOutside/pseuds/TheWeatherOutside
Summary: Jeff teaches Scott an important lesson in life.
Series: Take Us Home [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1973725
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	teach me how to dance

Jeff looked up from his desk when he heard the knock on his office door. It was slightly ajar, and he could see his oldest son, Scott, standing in the doorway.

"Do you need something, Scott?" Jeff swiped away the hologram that he had been typing away at so he could focus on his son.

Scott pushed the door open the rest of the way, and took one step into the room before he started to turn away.

"Never mind, it's nothing," he said quietly as he made his way out the room.

"Wait, son." Jeff stood up from his chair as Scott started to pull the door closed again. "It's clearly not nothing."

Scott had come into his office with such a worried look on his face, that Jeff was immediately concerned and would not allow Scott to take his troubles away to deal with them on his own.

Scott stopped and turned back around, but this time he wasn't looking up at Jeff. He was looking down at his feet and he fiddled his hands together.

Jeff waited for him to speak, as he didn't want to pressure him into saying anything if he really didn't want to.

But after a few moments, Scott finally lifted his head and spoke.

"Prom is coming up. And-and there's this..." Scott trailed off, but Jeff could guess what he wanted to say.

"There's a girl."

Jeff knew he hit the nail on the head when Scott's eyes widened, and his cheeks turned a slightly darker pink. He stopped twiddling his hands together as one hand came up to rub the back of his neck, and his gaze ended up back on the floor.

"Yeah." Scott's voice was quiet, but Jeff could see the small smile creep onto his face.

"So, what about this girl?" Jeff moved around his desk so that he could lean back on it and he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Well, apparently there's going to be a lot of dancing and," Scott paused for a long moment and Jeff waited for him to continue. "I don't really know how to dance."

"Ah, so that's what this is about." Jeff chuckled as he pushed himself up from the desk and he placed a hand on Scott's shoulder as he approached his son. "You want me to teach you how to dance?"

Scott finally made eye contact with him again and he was suddenly the most animated he'd been since he'd come into the office.

"Only if you want to!" His arms came up as he readied himself to turn down Jeff's offer, despite it being the reason he'd come in here in the first place. "And if, you know, you can."

"What does that mean?" Jeff's hand left Scott's shoulder as it came to his chest in mock hurt. "You think I can't dance?"

"It's not really that." Scott shook his hands as he denied Jeff's statement. "It's just that, I've never actually seen you."

Jeff didn't believe that was true, but then again, he didn't usually attend events with his sons where dancing was required. And if there were people dancing, then wasn't like Jeff had anyone to dance with anyway.

"Your old man can dance, just you wait and see." A small laugh escaped Scott's lips, now he was no longer so tense. "So, when do you want to start?"

"Uh," Scott cast a glance out the open door and then looked to Jeff once more, seeming a little nervous again. "Tomorrow? There's an hour where everyone else is out."

Scott was the kind of brother who didn't hide much from his younger siblings, mainly because he had no choice with how they constantly barged into his room. However, Jeff wasn't all that surprised that he wanted to do this in private. It clearly meant a lot to him, if how nervous he had been to ask was anything to go by, and so it made sense that he wanted to keep at least one thing from his kid brothers.

"Sounds perfect." Jeff smiled at him, and was pleased with the smile that Scott gave him in return.

"Okay. Where do I start?"

The two of them were standing in the middle of the living room. The coffee table had been pushed to the side of the room so they had plenty of space to practice.

"Let's start with the positioning. Come here." He gestured for his son to come and stand in front of him.

Scott hesitated slightly, like he was only now just realising that he was going to need to _dance_ with his _dad_ , but he came over nonetheless.

"So, you're going to want to put your hands on her waist like this." Jeff put his hands on Scott's waist and Scott followed suit on him.

Jeff was thankful that Scott had had such a growth spurt recently. His height almost matched Jeff's and made this all much easier.

"She will put her hands on your neck. Also, don't try anything and move your hands lower."

"Dad!" Scott groaned and his cheeks went red again, but his reaction was just what Jeff had wanted. It lightened the mood and got Scott to relax a little as he was still tense with nerves.

"I'm kidding, or not." Jeff laughed and decided to move on before Scott's face resembled a tomato. "Let's work on your feet. If you're leading, then as you step forward or back, she should follow. Have a go."

Scott's eyes were on his feet as he took a step forward, and Jeff took one back.

They moved around like that for a few minutes. Scott stepped on Jeff's feet on more than one occasion, which was exactly why Jeff insisted they didn't wear shoes for this first lesson, but after a little while Scott managed to get it.

"Stop looking down at your feet so much." One of Jeff's hands left where they were holding his son to tilt his chin up.

Scott's eyes left the floor and met Jeff's, and Jeff could see the concentration on his face.

"You're doing great. Relax a bit."

Scott gave him a small smile of relief and his shoulders dropped their tension slightly.

"You're really good," Scott said to him after another minute.

"I'll admit, it has been a while. The last time I danced like this was with your-" Jeff stopped himself before he continued. Before he said too much.

Because as much as he wanted to say it, to call Lucille the mother of his children, she wasn't that. As much as he wanted that to be real, it never would be.

"My wife," was what he settled on in the end.

Scott looked up at him in sympathy for a moment, before his smile was back on his face.

"She was very lucky to have you."

"No," Jeff was quick to deny. "I was the lucky one."

Scott watched him for a long moment and Jeff felt like he couldn't keep eye contact with him as he thought about the woman he'd lost, lest he start crying right in front of him.

Even though she wasn't their mother, in blood or scribbled onto some adoption papers, he knew that she would be proud of them like they were her own. God, he missed her.

He was broken out of his thoughts when Scott's heel landed painfully on his big toe.

"Sorry!" Scott apologised guiltily when Jeff winced in pain.

"How about we call it a day?" Jeff let go of Scott and took a step back. "It's almost time for me to go and pick your brothers up anyway."

Scott nodded, and Jeff was surprised to see that it was with a little reluctance. It seemed that Scott was enjoying himself, which made Jeff glad.

"You did good today." He put his hand on Scott's shoulder and squeezed it as he gave him a nod of approval. "You will make that girl very happy."

Scott shook his head as he laughed softly.

"No, she will be the one making me happy."

Jeff wanted to ask more about this girl that Scott seemingly liked, but he didn't. Scott spoke so fondly of her and had all the doting of a teenager in love that Jeff didn't want to overstep that. If Scott wanted to tell him more about her, then he would in his own time.

"Want to come with me to get your brothers?" Jeff asked instead.

"Sure!" Scott nodded eagerly and hurried out the room. "Let me just grab my shoes!"

Whilst he was gone, Jeff moved the table back to where it previously had been, so the rest of his family were none the wiser.

Jeff then went to put his own shoes on just as Scott came back down the stairs.

"All ready to go?" Jeff asked his son.

"Yep!"

They moved to head out the front door, but Scott suddenly stopped in front of him.

He turned around to face him and Jeff felt a little concerned about what Scott was going to say, but he quickly found he had nothing to be worried about with what Scott said next.

"Thanks, dad."

Scott was beaming up at him, and that was all it took to make everything worth it. He would teach his son anything he wanted if it meant it could keep him this happy.

"You're welcome, son."

Jeff didn't want to mention that he was as thankful to Scott as Scott was to him, if not more. He cherished every moment he got to spend with his sons, especially with how he was constantly reminded of how much they were growing up. It only felt like yesterday that Jeff first held Scott in his arms, but now he was already getting him ready for _prom_.

Time really did move by fast. He just hoped that this time he was given long enough to appreciate it, and it wasn't taken from him too soon.

**Author's Note:**

> Don't mind me, just making myself sad with the ending as I think about how after Jeff loses Lucille, he doesn't really get to spend much time with his sons before he gets lost in space :(


End file.
